Mick Jagger fights to save cinema where Stones played

Campaign: the battle to save the EMD has won the support of Mick Jagger

Rolling Stone Mick Jagger today gave his backing to a campaign to save a historic art deco cinema in London.

The singer and his bandmates played at the EMD in Walthamstow as part of their British tour in 1964, when it was known as the Granada.

Now he is joining other celebrities in trying to prevent it from being turned into a place of worship by a Brazilian church whose followers believe illnesses are caused by demons which must be exorcised.

Jagger said it was "heartbreaking" that the Grade-II listed EMD - one of London's earliest cinemas, where Alfred Hitchcock was first attracted to films - faced being transformed.

"Cinemas and live venues like the Granada, where the Stones played in the early days, learning our craft on the way, are the lifeblood of our cultural history," he said.

"They helped launch British popular music on to a world stage and should continue to function as places of entertainment.

"It's heartbreaking to hear about such a beautiful, important historical building and centre of entertainment being lost to the community.

"I fully support the campaign to keep it open and provide film, music and the arts for generations to come."

The venue closed as a cinema in 2003 and was bought by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

Its plans for the building have already been rejected by Waltham Forest council but another proposal is "close" to being made.

The church's property manager Paul Hill said: "I respect those who oppose our plans, and that goes for Mick Jagger, but does he know the ins and outs of it? Probably the gentleman doesn't."

He said the plan was to restore the building, which opened as a dance hall in 1887, and preserve the interior as designed by theatre director Theodore Komisarjevsky, husband of actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft. There would be rooms for hire, a café and community projects.

Mr Hill added: "A cinema in the borough would be most cost-effective being custom-built elsewhere."

The McGuffin Film & Television Society wants the council to offer the church the building next door so the EMD can be sold to an operator prepared to reopen the cinema.

Other big names campaigning to save the cinema include Meera Syal, Tony Robinson and Tony Benn.